1873 VIENNA WORLD EXPOSITION MEDAL

Bronze presentation medallion, 2 3/4" dia., the obverse bearing a high-relief portrait of Emperor Franz Josef I, surrounded by the legend: "Franz Joseph I., Kaiser von Oesterreich Koenig von Boehmen Etc. Apost. Koenig Von Ungarn" ("Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria Koenig von Boehmen, Etc. Apost. King of Hungary"). The designer is identified as "J. Tauteheyn" beneath the portrait. The reverse is decorated with an allegorical scene depicting a woman with a cornucopia handing a laurel wreath to a seated woman holding a distaff, flanking a man standing at an anvil holding a hammer and laurel wreath, with the legends: "Weltausstellung 1873 Wein " ("World Exposition 1873 Vienna") and "Dem Verdienst" ("For Merit"). The designer is identified as "K. Schwenzer" in fine print at the bottom of the scene. Shows minor spots of oxidation to each side, else very good. Vienna World Exposition of 1873 was the first to be held in a German-speaking country and was intended to show to the world the industrial and cultural progress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its rapidly expanding and modernizing capital city. The collapse of the Vienna stock market shortly after it opened and a cholera epidemic in the city cast a shadow over the event and attendance was below expectations. However, the Exposition did earn enormous prestige for the Austro-Hungarian Empire abroad and opened up new trading opportunities, especially with Asia.